Why Poverty is Like a Disease

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

I ripped this from a comment in another thread because it's a fascinating deep dive into the science of poverty. People should read it.

http://nautil.us/issue/47/consciousness/why-poverty-is-like-a-disease

 

 

 

[elfenix 34171]

Why Living in a Poor Neighborhood Can Change Your Biology:

Quote

But as the experiment went on, researchers began encountering anecdotal evidence that surprised them. The people who moved out of poor neighborhoods were healthier. When they went back and measured the differences between people who got vouchers and people who didn’t, the results were remarkable: The people who got vouchers to move to low-poverty neighborhoods had significantly lower rates of obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

Robert Whitaker, a pediatrician and public-health expert at Temple University, co-authored a report on the HUD study for the New England Journal of Medicine in 2011. “By dint of the design, the cause of the difference in diabetes and obesity was the voucher and the move to a less-distressed neighborhood,” Whitaker says. “The amazing thing is that the cause of the difference in obesity and diabetes was the move.”

https://getpocket.com/a/read/2418923350

[henrygandorf 29175]

 

[Hank Scorpio 17723]

Poverty is genetic. Just measure a poor person's skull and it becomes obvious. 

[Sbbruin 21733]

1 minute ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Poverty is genetic. Just measure a poor person's skull and it becomes obvious. 

You sir have the brain pan of a stage coach tilter.

[Guest Lobo]

The federal governments war on poverty began over 55 years ago and even when adjusting for inflation, our financial efforts to combat poverty have increased dramatically during that timeframe.  Yet the percentage of Americans living in poverty remains about the same despite hundreds of billions thrown at the problem, even during a 45 year span where the term “income inequality” was never mentioned.

i blame capitalism and government equally.  

[Parliament 14134]

Capitalism is TERRIBLY unfair.  Worse yet, there is no economic system any better.

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

Just now, Parliament said:

Capitalism is TERRIBLY unfair.  Worse yet, there is no economic system any better.

that was an amazing response. read the article.

the author makes $700K/yr due to capitalism. he's not decrying capitalism, he's explaining the science surrounding poverty.

you won't read the article though, yet you'll have tons more insightful posts like the one above.

[David Dennison 18656]

27 minutes ago, Parliament said:

Capitalism is TERRIBLY unfair.  Worse yet, there is no economic system any better.

Sure there is. Mixed economies work just fine.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

 

Get this guy on it......

[henrygandorf 29175]

1 hour ago, Parliament said:

Capitalism is TERRIBLY unfair.  Worse yet, there is no economic system any better.

democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others?

[bschoolprof 6232]

The bits about stress affecting biology and his own experiences were interesting. His suggestions for more effective social welfare programs seemed fine and increasingly non-controversial.

I don't really know what to make of the rest of the essay though, particularly the end.  He's obviously aware of the irony of a poor kid who worked hard and escaped poverty telling us that working hard to escape poverty is a myth in this country. But he misses a  more important point, and one that is much more relevant to the political stuff he brings up in the end: he left behind not only poverty, but more importantly rural America, for a life in a thriving city.  This growing rural vs urban divide, much moreso than poverty per se, lies at the heart of the socio-political situation he decries. Poors in his hometown in bumfuck Tennessee have very different outlooks, experiences, worldviews, and voting patterns than poors in Chicago.  

[RomaVicta 29784]

1 hour ago, Lobo said:

The federal governments war on poverty began over 55 years ago and even when adjusting for inflation, our financial efforts to combat poverty have increased dramatically during that timeframe.  Yet the percentage of Americans living in poverty remains about the same despite hundreds of billions thrown at the problem, even during as 45 year span where the term “income inequality” was never mentioned.

i blame capitalism and government equally.  

How many thousands if not millions of Americans have escaped poverty since those programs were created?

The goal was to provide opportunity to escape poverty and break a family cycle. It worked.

Others fall into poverty due to addictions, poor education, lack of ability or sloth. Their children need the opportunity to break the cycle.

The same people have not remained poor all of these decades.

[Guest Lobo]

Mind blown.  And not the same exact people have remained in underperforming schools, right?